More deaths expected from tour bus crash

February 3, 2013News Extra

YUCAIPA, Calif. (AP) — A tour bus carrying dozens of men, women and children from Tijuana, Mexico, crashed in the mountains of Southern California after spending Sunday at a winter recreation area, killing at least eight and as many as 10 people, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Mario Lopez said this morning that the number of eight confirmed deaths was expected to rise because the coroner was just starting to remove bodies from the mangled vehicles and also take away the remains of those who were thrown out, which were covered by yellow blankets.

More than three dozen people were injured. At least 17 were still hospitalized this morning, including at least five in critical condition.

The accident occurred about 6:30 p.m. Sunday about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. It left State Route 38 littered with debris and the bus sideways across the two lanes with its windows blown out, front end crushed and part of the roof peeled back like a tin can.

The speeding bus rear-ended a Saturn sedan on the mountain road, flipped and then hit a Ford pickup, Lopez said. One person in the truck was injured. The fate of the passengers in the car was not clear, but at least two people were in it, Lopez said.